Joe Girardi expresses concern about position players being ready for the season
As Major League Baseball and the Players Association continue to work on a plan to start up the 2020 season, there’s been quite a bit if concern about how pitchers pitchers will fare with a relatively quick start up.
Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi recently joined MLB Tonight with Carlos Pena, Dan Plesac and Matt Vasgersian on MLB Network to discuss an assortment of topics. He had a rather surprising opinion on whether he’s more worried about pitchers or position players being ready if an agreement is reached for there to be a 2020 season.
“I think I am more concerned about the position players,” Girardi said. “Here is why – I think pitchers have been able to throw and treat it more like a January, early February and have actually been able to throw bullpens…where hitters in a lot of instances have not been able to hit, been able to get to cages, weight rooms and maybe not been able to prepare like they would for a normal spring training as much as possible.”
It remains unclear so far what the exact roster size might look like when the season does resume. What is clear is having an expanded roster will help a team strategize how to use their players in a safe manner. Girardi said that unlike pitchers, who are expecting to be eased into the season, position players will be asked to play a bunch of games in a short amount of time right away.
“I am a little bit concerned about what type of condition the position players will be in and how often you can play them,” Girardi said.
Players like Bryce Harper have posted on their respected social media platforms to show how they are staying active while home. Back on May 15, Harper posted a video on his Instagram of him taking hacks at an indoor batting cage:
In what is going to look like a sprint of a season, veteran players are going to be asked to play more and take fewer days off resulting in their workload increasing. Veteran players like Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Jean Segura, Didi Gregorius and Andrew McCutchen will be counted on to go from zero to 100 rather quickly if there is a 2020 season. We will know more in the coming weeks on how teams will be planning to get their position players back in shape as more details of the MLB’s plan for the 2020 season come out.
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